Shows ***

Dearly Beloved…we are
gathered here today to mourn the passing of a truly great television show that
was taken from us far too soon. Oh Veronica, we hardly knew ye.

Veronica Mars earned a fiercely loyal audience during its
short run, but one that just wasn’t big enough to impress the powers that be not
to pull the plug. Its life was always in jeopardy, but the studios kept it on
life support, bringing it back for one final season. As an effort to save it,
the show was even paired back to back with the more successful Gilmore Girls
on the new CW network. Unfortunately, the end result was that both shows
are now no more.

From the very first
episode, which remains possibly the second greatest pilot I’ve seen apart from
Twin Peaks, Veronica Mars was a must-see television event for me and my
fiancée. Thanks to DVD, we were able to catch up and keep ourselves in the loop
as this smart, sassy and terrific title character (Bell) solved mysteries both
great and small. Both of the first seasons ended in climaxes that had us
reeling and eager to anticipate what the next year would have in store.

Creator Rob Thomas tried to
make the show a little more audience friendly in order to save it…instead of one
big mystery carrying us through from start to finish, he broke it up into
three. As Veronica started college, he also focused more on her relationship
issues, particularly with her on-again, off-again love with bad boy Logan
Echolls (Dohring). In other words, he tried to reel in the Gilmore Girls
audience, and played down to audience expectations instead of up to them.

As a result, the resulting
third year lacked some of the punch of the first two. It took a while to get
going for real…many episodes, as a matter of fact. The climax of the first
mystery, involving a serial rapist terrorizing Veronica’s college campus (that
was first glimpsed in season two), was strong and memorable, and it segued
nicely into the second mystery, the mysterious death of the dean (Ed Begley
Jr.).

Watching the third season
with my fiancée was fun, and she seemed to still get into it as much as ever.
For me, it seemed a lot of what made the show great in the first place was
watered down. The dialogue had some wit, but not quite the constant zing of
before. Logan and Veronica’s relationship troubles became a trial to endure
rather than a crisis to be experienced, and more than once hinged on the ‘idiot
plot’ where one piece of information revealed could have spared us all a lot of
grief. And what was with the sad eyed Logan this year…what happened to his
testicles anyway?

Though it felt a little
weaker than before, and more eager to please, the show still boasted better
writing and acting than most of what passed for entertainment on the tube. Word
has it, and it’s confirmed by the extras, that Rob Thomas intended to flash
forward in the fourth year and have Veronica at the FBI. Sadly, we’ll never
know how good that could have been.

So it is with sadness and
fondness that I look back on the young life of Veronica Mars. As in
life, it’s unfair and hard to understand why those with great promise, youth and
vigor are sometimes taken away from us with so much promise left unfulfilled.
It joins the ranks of illustrious others in premature death, like Arrested
Development, Ned and Stacey and many more. One can’t condemn when something
we love tries to stave off death with everything in its power, but I can’t help
wishing Veronica had gone out more on her own terms than compromising so
much…she might have had a new chance at life, but what kind of life would it
have been?

Then again, these may be
far too heavy handed questions to be pondering over a television show. So I’ll
conclude my remarks by saying to those who knew and loved Veronica Mars
well to celebrate the short life she lived and what she managed to accomplish in
that time instead of mourning her loss. I, for one, will always be grateful for
the time she spent with us, and my marathon sessions of the show with my
fiancée. Veronica lived but three short years, but those were enough to insure
immortality to those of us who knew and loved her best.

5.1 sound this time
around…nice. The music is still the biggest plus in the series as far as audio
goes, but the extra dimension of surrounds makes for some nice scenes.

Features **1/2

The extras, all on the last
disc, start with a treat for fans…a 12 minute look at what would have been the
fourth season with Veronica at the FBI, plus a preview featurette in which Rob
Thomas discusses his plans for the show had it gone on. There is a series of
“Going Undercover” bits where Thomas and supervising producer Dan Etheridge
discuss the third year in detail, plus a gag reel, a collection of deleted
scenes, and five webisodes featuring interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.

Summary:

The third time
isn’t always the charm, and one of television’s brightest has now gone the way
of so many others. But at least with DVD, old and new fans alike can continue
to discover the dusky gem that was Veronica Mars.